It has been revealed that hackers are illegally generating Bitcoin, Monero and other cryptocurrencies by making the most out of a software flaw leaked from the United States government. This information raises serious questions about the security of one of the fastest growing financial markets. Recently, illicit crypto mining has risen by 459 percent compared to 2017. This is according to a report by the cyber threat alliance released this past Wednesday. This rise in crypto malpractice is attributed to the 2017 leak of eternal blue which is a tool for exploiting vulnerabilities in outdated Microsoft systems software.

When this tool became popular, hackers noticed a previously unknown vulnerability in the tool which they worked fast to make the most of. Since the beginning of July this year, most of illegal crypto mining activity, 85 percent to be exact, has been centred on Monero. This is according to the report by the cybersecurity body. 8 percent of illegal crypto mining activities were targeted at Bitcoin while other Altcoins accounted for 7 percent of the illicit activities.

Using the eternal blue tool vulnerability, hackers have made serious and alarming efforts to commandeer computing power of other users in order to generate digital currencies. Neil Jenkins, the chief analytics officer at cyber thereat alliance commented that hackers can easily sit back and watch the money stream in after masterminding their illicit activities. The cyber threat alliance is a group that was formed 4 years ago by a consortium of cybersecurity firms. The individual member companies deemed the formation of the consortium necessary in order to share intelligence on cyber threats and vulnerabilities.

Neil Jenkins also stated that while cybercrimes were a big deal all over the globe, the vice was more prevalent in the United States. The creation of Bitcoin and other Altcoins occurs after the solving of very complex mathematical equations which require very high computing power. Most investors and users lack the means to create or mine these virtual assets forcing them to turn to crypto exchanges in order to buy them. When hackers manipulate systems enabling them to generate crypto using other people’s computer powers, it could erode the value of the cryptocurrencies since the hackers increase the supply of the coins.

Eternal blue was reportedly stolen from the national security agency by a group known as shadow brokers who also leaked it last year in an unsolved breach. This shadow group has been known to release various tools from that breach. The code instilled more fear when Russia and North Korea used it in massive attacks known as “wanna cry” which shut down computers in several countries

Related Articles

Pantera capital, one of the pioneer investment firms to solely focus on crypto and the blockchain sector, just marked their 5 years of operation in an interesting fashion. Amid the pomp and color witnessed at the fifth-anniversary festivities, a Bitcoin price forecast was given, where the firms CEO predicted that the price of Bitcoin would […]

Toshi is now a Coinbase wallet according to a post made on the Coinbase blog. According to Coinbase lead Siddharth Coelho-Prabhu, the Coinbase wallet will not just be another name associated with the popular US-based crypto exchange but also a part of a bigger effort to make investments on products that will define the future […]

“Whale” is the term used referring to an investor with a lot of budget and has the capability to move the market by buying or selling in really large volumes. The movements of crypto whales can provide important price signals to alert investors compared to other sectors. The London Whale Lately, the term “whale” that was […]

RECENT POSTS

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has continued its in-depth assessment of Initial coin offerings (ICOs) with the body reaching a settlement on two crypto startups. Initial coin offerings (ICOs), may be important platforms for crypto projects to raise funds, but these platforms must also operate in accordance with the regulatory requirements spelled out […]

Oil industry giants BP and Shell are among a group of business entities plotting the launch of a Blockchain platform that will automate post-trade processes in the energy industry this year. This news was revealed by VAKT Global, a consortium that is building the platform, at a digital commodities summit hosted by S&P Global Platts […]

Even though it didn’t appear so in the first days of the month, the last week was marked in a bloodbath for all major cryptos as even Bitcoin and Ethereum touched their new lows for the year 2018. In the market craze of negative trends that marked the week between November 12th and November 18th, […]

Bosch, an electronic manufacturing giant has partnered with IOTA in a bid to integrate its new data collection internet of things (IoT) device with the decentralized IOTA Data Marketplace. This is according to a tweet made by a Bosch representative on November the 12th. The IOTA marketplace is a data marketplace where various interested parties […]

Bitcoin Cash previously announced a hard fork due to the crucial disagreements between the visions of two different teams taking care of Bitcoin Cash since it was originally forked out of Bitcoin (BTC) chain. The two teams, Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV decided to split, which resulted in splitting the chain in two as well, […]

Categories

Categories

ABOUT

Crypto News Bytes

Cryptonewsbytes is a leading cryptocurrency online news magazine, dedicated to provide latest breaking news, trends and developments in the cryptocurrency space.